A/N: I do not own any halo/bungie icons here in.
Dark Ambassador
Jacob Evans sat with his harness tightly fastened around him as the pelican raced across the cold night sky. A wave of nausea struck him as he bobbed up and down. The pelican's flight path had to follow the contour of every hill as they stayed below the covenant's radar capabilities. Jacob ran through every scenario he could possibly think of before he embarked on this sortie. Overwhelmed with the possibilities of how he could screw up and get himself killed Jacob simply sighed. The last twenty four hours had been painful for him. He said good bye to his wife Anna, held her close promising to return one day and make up for the mistake of ever putting her into this situation. He remembered her asking him if he would be back soon enough to see their first child who would arrive at the end of the year. It hurt him, but he told her that he was going to be there for her no matter what he had to do. For some reason the only other thing he could remember after that was eating the nine ounce sirloin cooked medium rare, with a baked potato side smothered in butter, and a caser salad to start things off. Last good meal I'm going to have for a very long while, Evans thought.
"Evans," The Colonel grabbed his attention "You can't dwell on it. You just have to remember what you've been taught when the situation presents itself. Hey it's not like they're going to kill ya. They think you are a high priority target. We have been purposely leaking information over the last few weeks of a valuable officer with important military intelligence to be arriving today." The colonel's words gave a little relief but at this point Evans would take any he could get.
"yeah that's easy for you to say. While you're over at HQ I'll be doing who the hell knows what and being held at who the hell knows where." Evans smirked.
An electronic voice crackled over the Colonel's comm set "Colonel we are three minutes out get em ready for drop."
"Showtime Evans." The Colonel joked. The warthog winched as the safety harness was released. Evans climbed in and made sure his insignia and rank were clearly visible. The Corp also took the liberty of detailing his warthog displaying with all sorts of flashy stuff that looked important but really had no value except to signify his important presence.
"Alright Evans you know what do, we will be in contact for approximately ten minutes after you depart alpha. After first enemy contact you are on your own. Son you are the only soldier I know who can pull this off. Remember you objective and I WILL see you on the other side. Good luck!" As soon as the Colonel finished the cargo bay lights went red and the doors began to open. As the Colonel returned to the cockpit Evans put on his helmet and made sure all his gear was secure in the vehicle. The bay doors opened slowly and Evans could see the high grass bend and sway just twenty feet below him. A rush of cold air forced its way inside the pelican as Evans started up the Warthog. The engine roared to life and all gauges were in the green.
The colonel's voice came through his headset "Ambassador you are clear to leave the deck"
"Affirmative taxi one, ambassador is checking out, proceeding to check point alpha."
With a mix of nervousness and excitement Evans floored it out the pelican and onto the grassy turf below. The warthog fell briefly and slammed onto the surface jarring him up and down as he made his way across the hilly terrain. Evans glanced at the dashboard clock reading 0212, it was about a twenty minute drive to Alpha. He was on time and a drive always seemed to cool his nerve.
"Ambassador this is taxi one."
"Taxi one go ahead."
"Maintain your current heading to position alpha. Rendezvous with motorcade. They have been briefed and the escorts will take you to the stage. Maintain communication silence from now until you confirm contact with escorts."
"Acknowledged Taxi one I'll talk to you later." Evans squelched his microphone to be sure he wasn't transmitting any signals and reviewed everything about the enemy as he could.
If there was a human scholar of covenant history, hierarchy, politics, trade, affairs, religion, communication, anthropology, and biology it was Evans, but even with all this knowledge he was still a fool to their ways.
Unlike most officers in UNSC he had been trained in counter intelligence, espionage, and infiltration. Many of his superiors noted his supremacy of psychology which mainly manifested by itself getting under people's skin and into their heads. He had the uncanny ability to threaten you with simply his presence. His methods are matriculate and calculated.
These characteristics were also displayed through close quarter combat training which ranged from brutal hand to hand combat to bladed techniques of his standard issue knife to a variety of other melee weapons. Evans small arms efficiency is the best in his battalion and still holds many of their records. A previous superior once remarked about Evans methods and abilities as such: "He, in all manners of the word is manipulative. Able to create a situation in which you are constantly battling his opposition and once you think you have him beat you realize you have been playing his game by his rules all along. Leaving you with a lasting impression of regret that you ever met him."
Evans snapped out of his daze and before he knew it alpha was in sight.
"This is stage hands to ambassador we have you in sight please turn off all non essential equipment we must maintain light discipline until we are underway."
"You got it stage hands ambassador is going dark" Evans quickly flipped all his lights and navigational equipment off. He reduced speed as he arrived at alpha and quietly shut down the warthog. Three other marines leaned against the two other warthogs that made up the motorcade, waiting for his arrival.
"Welcome to the show major, I'm corporal Hollings. I'll be conducting the operation from here. These two other clowns," Hollings gestured to the other two marines loading up gear into the warthogs, "are you're escorts. Now let me go over some of the fine details with you."
"Have any of the plans changed corporal?" Evans questioned hoping no last minute changes had been made.
"No, now you are going to be number two in line with Griggs as lead and Sullivan covering your rear. I need to show you something major." Evans followed Hollings around the opposite side of one of the warthogs and flinched as someone's cold dead eyes locked on his.
"Easy major I know this is unsettling but we have to make this look as legitimate as possible. You are going to be driving alone, but we are placing these cadavers in the other vehicles. Remember we want them to believe this." Another wave a nausea struck Evans.
"Won't the covenant be able to piece together that these guys are already dead?" Evans sarcastically questioned.
"Oh I have no doubt that when they see these guys they'll know they're dead?" Hollings replied equally sarcastic.
"So how does this help me Corporal?"
"Well Sullivan, Griggs, and I have loaded enough compact explosives in these two hogs that when the firing starts they are going to blow big enough that they won't be able to tell the difference."
"That's reassuring Hollings just make sure I don't end up like them before or after you send them skyward."
"You got nothing to worry about Evans just do your part and it will all pan out." Hollings said confidently. Evans looked at his watch reading 0248.
"Time to move." Evans ordered. The three others agreed and began to scramble for their gear. As Evans climbed back into his vehicle he watched Sullivan turn on a monitor and in the next moment one of the other warthogs remotely started and drove around Evans positioning itself in front.
"Lead hog ready!" Griggs called out.
"Number three is ready to cruise!" Sullivan yelled as the third warthog pulled in behind them.
"Alright Evans, I'm going be "command" from now on. Stay about thirty meters apart and ready yourself for a fight. They know we're coming." The Motorcade began to depart position alpha located just outside enemy lines. Within a few minutes they would arrive at the stage.
Tele Namshee was ready and waiting. This was his opportunity for advancement among his brothers. He had chances before to prove his valor, but with not as much success as he or his superiors had hoped for. This was his operation and he was not going to let things fall out of hand.
"Brother we are ready along the east side of the bank."
"Understood, I will fire first drawing their attention. You and your comrades must be ready to strike as soon as the engagement begins," Tele queued his comm to all channels, "Remember do not, I repeat do not destroy the target he must be apprehended. Failure to do so is punishable by death!" They sat and waited only for a moment later when a comm report echoed over.
"Scouts have spotted the targets en route to our position…. three targets, lightly armored, moving fast… Priority target is in the middle. Will arrive at your location now!"
Tele was caught off guard. He looked down the road and saw the first target appear , followed by the others.
"Command this is Ambassador we are arriving at the stage and hoping the audience will show up. Everything is quiet and-" A green flashed emitted out the left corner of Evans field of vision. It started slow and suddenly raced towards the lead vehicle. The impact from the fuel rod cannon rocked the entire motorcade violently sending debris in every direction.
"Contact left!" Evans screamed as they now raced down the road.
Hollings crackled over the radio. "Time to light em up!" the heavy MG's on the warthogs swiveled from remote control and began firing at their targets.
"Can't see a thing!" Evans yelled to himself.
The machine gun on the warthog in front of him was creating a light show. Each round flashed brightly diminishing his night vision. It created a strobe effect which further disoriented him. He looked over to the left and could see enemy vehicles advancing. He felt helpless as he could not return fire but only watch as the tracers and plasma bolts raced across the open ground impacting their targets. The road raced by just below him as he continued to make an escape. Four ghosts and about two anti-armor squads emerged from cover and began to give chase.
"Sullivan! Break off the motorcade and engage those cannon teams" Griggs barked. The rear warthog peeled off and literally cut down one enemy team. Two ghost continued to chase Jacob while the rest began firing at Sullivan's vehicle. The alarming sound of metal bending and giving way snapped his attention in front again.
"lead hog is hit, my guns are offline." Griggs reported. The warthog then violently hooked left off the road almost turning over in the process. The vehicle now heading straight towards their pursuers. The elite piloting the ghost couldn't believe what was happening. It fired frantically at the oncoming warthog, but to no avail.
"Kaboom." Griggs announced as the explosives let up the sky like an artificial sun illuminating the landscape for miles.
"Here we go." Evans pulled his harness tight and braced himself as he jerked the warthog violently over and began rolling. Another wave of nausea. Evans could see the ground then sky then ground and then sky again. Over and over again he rolled , but eventually the vehicle came to rest on its side. Jacob quickly escaped the overturned warthog and took cover on its opposite side. Leaning against the vehicle he drew his sidearm and peered around the vehicle.
Careful on the kills Jacob one maybe two or three at the most, Evans thought to himself as he aimed down sights.
Twelve ground units advanced behind two more ghosts only two hundred meters away. Evans evaluated which targets were worth taking out and prioritized them. Jackals aren't as smart as the other units but they do provide invaluable cover with their shields which also allows them to maneuver around the battlefield in order to flank his position. Jacob was about to drop the jackal when a flash of light blinded him. Evans swore as the heat and shock wave of the last warthog blasted towards him. The blast forced the warthog to topple again another quarter turn. Fortunately Evans was also displaced from the blast saving him from being pinned down. He quickly regained his footing and reestablished his bearings. The jackal he was about to drop had been torn up by the blast and now lay scattered where it once stood. Saves me a bullet Jacob thought as he spotted the remaining forces closing in on his position.
"Prene Grevee move up along the right side and check the last vehicle for any survivors. Our target must not be among the dead" Tele Namshee ordered over the comm channel. Only fifty meters away he watched Prene's squad slowly advance on the vehicle. One of the lower grunts cautiously advanced towards the vehicle alone. His courage was evident by his shaking frame and unstable footing. The elite watched as Prene began yelling at the grunt to check the other side. Finally after enough persuasion the grunt cornered the warthog. The shot rang out almost instantaneously as the now dead grunt fell to the ground.
"Damn it!" Namshee screamed as he threw off his helmet and raced to the standoff hoping that no one would avenge their fallen comrade.
"Soldier you are surrounded there is no hope of escape. Throw you weapons over the vehicle and slowly walk around with your hands over your head. You don't have to die here today." Tele tried to reason with the human. They waited for a reply it was only seconds but time drew out for an eternity. All of them on edge waiting for anything to happen expecting the worse to happen.
"Human! I demand you come out of your hiding-" A standard issue sidearm flew up and over the warthog landing just in front of Prene. The tension was broken. Everyone lowered there weapons and breathed a sigh of relief. Just as Prene knelt down to pick up the weapon a primed hand grenade landed just beside him.
"Grenade!"
Super hot pieces of sharp metal flew in every direction tearing into anything it came across. Fortunately for the elite this was not his first encounter with human fragmentation grenades and he easily escaped the kill zone with a single dive. Unfortunately for Evans Prene had jumped towards the warthog and had exited his combat roll directly in front of him with his needler ready to fire. Out of instinct Prene fired a single needle at Jacob. The barb impacted on the outside of his right thigh.
"Holy shit!" Evans swore as the purple shard dug into his leg. He fell to the ground expecting in the next moment to have his leg blown off as the shard exploded, but after a few seconds he looked back down at his leg and was relieved that it was still intact. The shard had not exploded and still lay half buried in his leg. Evans had never been so grateful to have just been shot and nothing else. The two elites ran over to him hoping that they hadn't just killed their target.
"Why did you fire at him!" Tele demanded from his brother.
"I do not know….I…I just fired my weapon." Prene stood over the human puzzled at his own actions.
"If he dies so do you!" Tele was losing his mind he couldn't believe this was happening to him again.
"Human how do we fix you tell us what to do!" Tele growled.
Evans looked down at his leg, he was losing a lot of blood.
"Medical kit is in the…it's in the back seats. Hurry losing a lot of blood." Evans vision was getting blurry. Prene frantically dug through the vehicle's content's as fast as he could searching for anything that could help.
"What am I looking for human!" Prene was desperately searching, his life depended on it too.
"Small container….white cross all around it." Evans made a cross with his two hands as he tried to explain.
"got it!" he pulled out the box and opened it and displayed an even more puzzled look on his face.
"What do you need us to do human." Tele's tone was more calm.
"Prene hand me the small white cylinder." Evans asked. The elite was caught off guard. He did no think a human could pronounce his name that well. Prene did as instructed and helped Evans prop himself against the warthog.
"What can we do?" Tele asked again.
With his right hand Evans grabbed Tele's right hand as well and gripped it firmly.
"Hold tight." Evans instructed as he grabbed the purple shard with his left hand. Jacob took in one large breath and braced himself. It took all he had. Evans started pulling as hard as he could. The muscles around the needle contracted sharply sending an unbelievable wave of pain across his body. He screamed as blood began to spill out around the edges of his wound. Tele could feel Evans grip tighten around his hand almost hurting the elite as he continued to pull the crystal out of his own leg. After what seemed like a never ending tug of war match the needle wrenched free from his body. Evans threw the shard as far as he could. One of the jackals watching the brutal medical procedure began to gag as it could see the crater left by the needle begin to fill with Jacob's blood.
"The canister…Prene…" Evans could barley speak he knew he was going to black out soon. Prene gave him the bio foam and he quickly injected it into his wound.
"take this give it to me in one hour, then take this … bottle and inject into here with this…" Jacob fell unconscious.
"What did he mean Tele?" his brother asked. Tele was still gripping his hand, but suddenly snapped to.
"yes I understood what he needs. Brother you are to watch over him and make sure he recovers fully. I will not have wasted my comrades lives today."
The task force loaded up their gear and new prisoner and headed back to their forward op-center.
Several miles away Hollings and his crew watched the stacks of smoke from the battle rise and drift away in the distance.